Who Is Abaddon or Apollyon? The Angel of the Bottomless Pit in Revelation 9

A King with Two Names

Revelation 9 introduces one of the most unsettling figures in the New Testament. After the shaft of the abyss is opened and the visionary locust army emerges, John says that the creatures have a king over them: the angel of the bottomless pit. He then gives the king's name in two languages. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon; in Greek, Apollyon.

Revelation identifies the figure by three features before anything else is said about him: he is the angel of the abyss, he is king over the destructive host that emerges from it, and his names in Hebrew and Greek both express destruction. Those details place Abaddon/Apollyon inside Revelation's supernatural world of imprisoned powers, divine judgment, and controlled release from the abyss.

What Does Abaddon Mean?

The Hebrew word ʾăbaddôn is related to the idea of destruction. In the Old Testament it appears in poetic passages alongside Sheol, death, and the grave. Job can speak of Abaddon and Death together; Proverbs says Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD. In those texts, Abaddon is not clearly a personal name. It functions as a term for destruction or the realm associated with destruction.

Revelation 9 does something new with that background. John does not merely mention destruction as a place or condition. He says the king over the abyssal locusts has the Hebrew name Abaddon. The old term is personified within the vision as the name or title of an angelic ruler.

What Does Apollyon Mean?

John immediately gives the Greek equivalent, Apollyōn. The term is related to the verb apollymi, to destroy or to ruin, and can be understood as Destroyer. The bilingual naming is probably intentional. John wants readers to hear the destructive character of the figure whether they approach the image through Hebrew or Greek.

The lexical meaning, however, does not answer every interpretive question. Calling the figure Destroyer does not prove he is Satan, nor does it tell us whether he is a rebellious angel released from confinement or an angelic agent permitted to administer judgment. Meaning and identity must be distinguished.

The Angel of the Abyss

Revelation 9:11 explicitly calls Abaddon/Apollyon the angel of the abyss. The word angelos ordinarily means messenger and can refer to heavenly beings. The figure is also called the king over the locust army. These titles establish rulership within the vision, but they do not say that he owns the abyss or operates independently from God.

That distinction is crucial. Earlier in the chapter, the key to the abyss is given; the abyss is opened only when permission is granted; and the destructive forces are repeatedly limited in what they may do and for how long. Revelation's supernatural enemies are fearsome, but they remain bounded by divine sovereignty.

Is Abaddon Satan?

The identification with Satan is possible in the sense that both belong to the book's hostile supernatural world, but Revelation never explicitly says Abaddon is the dragon. In fact, the book later distinguishes Satan from the abyss itself: in Revelation 20 an angel descends with the key to the abyss and binds Satan there. That scene makes it unwise to assume every ruler connected with the abyss is simply another name for Satan.

Abaddon is presented as an angelic king associated with the abyss and destruction. His army rises from the prison realm, darkens the sky, and torments those who do not bear God's seal. Yet even this terrifying king acts within limits imposed from above: the abyss is opened with a key that is given, the creatures receive permission, their targets are restricted, and their time is measured. Destructive spiritual power remains beneath divine sovereignty.

Why the Bottomless Pit Matters

Traditional English Bibles often render abyssos as bottomless pit. The Greek word is better represented simply as abyss—a deep, unfathomable realm that Revelation repeatedly associates with hostile supernatural activity and confinement. Revelation 9 therefore belongs to the same broad biblical geography in which rebellious powers can be restrained, released for judgment, and finally defeated.

Abaddon's title is specifically tied to the abyss, the prison realm from which the locust host emerges. Elsewhere Scripture uses Tartarus, Hades, Gehenna, and the lake of fire in other judgment contexts. Revelation 9's focus is the abyss: a place whose inhabitants remain confined until access is granted from above.

The Abyss Opens Under Divine Judgment

The vision communicates its force through the symbols John actually gives. The abyss can be opened. A destructive angelic king can lead a supernatural host. The creatures are terrifying, but their authority is borrowed and bounded. Revelation's emphasis is not on decoding them into modern machines or politicians; it is on the judgment that erupts when God permits the prison realm to open.

The biblical emphasis is therefore not on giving readers a secret name to invoke or fear. Revelation gives the name so the figure's character can be recognized. Destruction has a king in the vision, but destruction does not have the final throne.

Abaddon in the Old Testament Is Usually a Place or Condition

Before Revelation names a king Abaddon, the Hebrew Bible uses ʾAbaddon for the realm or condition of destruction. Job places it beside the grave, and Proverbs places Sheol and Abaddon together before the eyes of the LORD. John takes that established language of destruction and gives the abyssal king a name that matches his domain and mission: Destruction in Hebrew, Destroyer in Greek.

That background makes Revelation's move more striking. John takes a familiar Hebrew word associated with destruction and gives it as the Hebrew name of the abyssal king. The vision therefore works on two levels at once: readers hear a proper name, and Hebrew-sensitive readers hear the meaning carried by the older word.

What Are the Locusts?

Revelation's locusts do not behave like ordinary insects. They emerge from the abyss, possess terrifying composite features, are forbidden to harm vegetation, and are permitted to torment particular people for a limited period. Their origin in the abyss and their submission to an angelic king place the vision squarely in the supernatural conflict that runs through Revelation. John is depicting spiritual judgment with apocalyptic imagery, not describing an ordinary swarm.

Apocalyptic literature communicates through images that condense meaning. The goal is not to draw a zoological diagram of the locusts but to recognize what the vision says about destructive power released under judgment. Their king's name—Destroyer—fits the character of the host he leads.

Even the Destroyer Is Limited

One of the most important details in Revelation 9 is the repeated language of limitation. The locusts are told what they may harm, what they may not harm, and how long their torment may last. The key to the abyss is given before the shaft opens. Destruction operates by permission, not by independent sovereignty.

This pattern is consistent with the wider biblical worldview. Hostile powers can be terrifying without becoming rivals to God. Daniel's princes resist; demons oppose; Satan deceives; the beast makes war. Yet boundaries remain. Revelation is not dualism. The throne at the center of the book belongs to God and the Lamb, and every destructive force eventually answers to that throne.

Why Revelation Gives Both Hebrew and Greek Names

John's decision to preserve both a Hebrew and Greek form deserves attention. Revelation sometimes explains Semitic terms for readers in the Greek-speaking world, and the double naming here gives the vision a broad intelligibility. Abaddon evokes the Hebrew Scriptures' language of destruction; Apollyon communicates the same destructive identity in Greek. The figure therefore stands at the intersection of Israel's biblical vocabulary and the wider linguistic world of John's churches.

Apollyon is the Greek form John gives for the Hebrew Abaddon. The Greek participial name comes from apollymi, 'to destroy,' so John's own translation explains the title: Destroyer. The force of the name lies first in that meaning. The king of the abyss bears a name that corresponds to the destruction associated with his realm.

Conclusion

Abaddon and Apollyon are the Hebrew and Greek names John gives to the angelic king over the abyssal locust army in Revelation 9. Both names communicate destruction. The Old Testament uses Abaddon as language associated with destruction and the realm of death; Revelation personifies that imagery in a ruler whose Greek name means Destroyer.

Revelation presents Abaddon as the terrifying angelic king of the abyssal host. His identity is bound to destruction, but his authority remains limited: the abyss is opened by permission, his army receives commands, its targets are restricted, and its time is measured. Abaddon is therefore not a rival sovereign. He is a destructive supernatural ruler whose release unfolds beneath the judgment of God.

Continue the Study

Abaddon stands inside Revelation's larger theology of the abyss, restrained spiritual powers, and final judgment. Continue through the studies on the abyss, Tartarus, imprisoned angels, and the supernatural conflict that reaches its conclusion in Revelation. Learn More

Sources & Further Reading

• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version: Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11; 27:20; Revelation 9:1–12; 20:1–3.

• Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, entry for ʾăbaddôn.

• Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, relevant entry.

• Walter Bauer et al., BDAG, entries for abyssos and apollymi.

• Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, relevant entries.